Pneumatic tires are conventionally constructed to have a symmetrical internal construction; the symmetry being centered on the lateral center, or equatorial plane, of the tire. Laboratory studies have shown that a majority of a tire's net cornering force is generated in the area of the shoulder on the inside of the direction of turn. Roll and lateral deflection to the outside tend to lift this inside shoulder, reducing the tire's cornering capability. In many vehicles, the vehicle's suspension system compensates for the reduced cornering capability by cambering of the vehicle wheels. In cambering, the top of a wheel and tire are tilted toward the center of the radius of the turn for maximum cornering force. Through the use of high wheel camber and toe angles, car suspensions are often designed in such a way that the load carried by a tire is not equally distributed between the inner and outer side of the tire. Given the fact that both sides of a tire are generally equal, this causes an asymmetric loading of the footprint leading to a side-to-side non-uniform shape that can be detrimental to the tire performance.
To compensate for these lateral forces, it has been known to form the tire with an asymmetric tread. This is accomplished in the tire of Mirtain, U.S. Pat. No. 3,435,874, and Verdier, U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,468.